On the night of August 9, 1877, the Dakota, a 4,300-ton steamer built for the Guion Line at a cost of £105,000, set sail from Liverpool for New York. On board were 218 passengers and 109 crew members, a diverse group of Welsh, English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, and Swedish emigrants, along with Americans returning home. The ship’s holds were filled with a vast array of goods, including brandy, wine, oil paintings, musical instruments, machinery, and exotic animals like bears and monkeys.
The Collision and Rescue
The disaster occurred because the ship sailed at its full speed of 17 knots within two miles of the coast, much closer than the advised four-mile distance. Following a misunderstanding of orders between Captain James Price and the second officer, Officer Lamb, the ship swung to starboard instead of port and struck the rocks of Ynys Amlwch (East Mouse) at 10:10 PM.
The rescue effort was immediate:
- Captain Hamel (referred to in the 1841 census as William Hannell, age 45, heard the explosions while at supper and organized the Life Saving Apparatus Crew.
- The Life Saving Brigade used rockets to fire lines to the ship, and women and children were removed by hawser by midnight.
- The Bull Bay Lifeboat rescued 20 people from the rocks, and by 3:00 AM, everyone was safely off the vessel.
- Residents of Amlwch assisted in transferring the survivors by horse and cart to the Eleth, Castle, and Dinorben Hotels.
Salvage and Scavenging
The wreck was eventually bought for salvage by two prominent local figures, T. Fanning Evans and J. Wynne Paynter.
- Thomas Fanning Evans: The 1881 census records him as a 43-year-old Magistrate, Mining Engineer, and Ship Owner living at Mona Lodge.
- John Wynne Paynter: The 1881 census lists him as a 65-year-old Justice of the Peace at Maesllwyn Fawr. By the 1891 census, his son, John Paynter (39), was practicing as a Solicitor at Bryntirion.
The wreck site attracted many visitors and photographers, but it also tempted several locals into crime:
- Owen Parry (of Park Lodge), Henry Williams (of the Stag), and Richard and Evan Hughes were arrested by the Cemais coastguard for possessing stolen goods from the wreck, though they were only given a severe caution.
- William Williams, the Deputy Harbour Master at Amlwch, was caught with a “valuable box” and sentenced to time in Beaumaris Gaol. (The 1881 census for Wesley Street identifies a William Williams (61) as the Superintendent of Mona Smelting Works, though it is unclear if this is the same individual.
Legacy of the Wreck
A public inquiry in Liverpool found Captain James Price and Officer Lamb responsible for the disaster, though they were not formally punished. Salvage operations continued every summer until at least 1885; in 1884, two of the ship’s boilers were beached at Porth Eilian so their rivets could be recycled 1. Today, the remains of the Dakota still lie in three pieces off the coast.